The Karkin language (also called Los Carquines in Spanish) is one of eight Ohlone languages. It was extinct by the 1950s and was formerly spoken in north central California.
Karkin is an Ohlone/Costanoan language, in the Utian language family, which is a Yok-Utian language, in the Penutian language family.
It was historically spoken by the Karkin people, who lived in the Carquinez Strait region in the northeast portion of the San Francisco Bay estuary. Its only documentation is a single vocabulary obtained by linguist-missionary Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta at Mission Dolores in 1821. Although meager, the records of Karkin show that it constituted a distinct branch of Costanoan, strikingly different from the neighboring Chochenyo Ohlone language and other Ohlone languages spoken farther south. Karkin has probably not been spoken since the 19th century.
All Costanoan languages went extinct, but some are being studied and revived.
Me tomas o dejas,
Me daña tu juego insensible,
Y ruego que quieras hablar más nada me dices,
Mis manos hoy tiemblan,
Y muerdo palabras que solo te piden
Que cambies la espera de amor imposible,
Tú, que encuentras en mi calor
Tú, que tomas de mi lo mejor,
Tú, escúchame por favor
Silencioso amor, no rompas mi corazón.
Amor que trasciendes,
Horarios de estrellas por mágicas sendas
Amor insensible
Escucha y no olvides.
Tú, que encuentras en mi calor
Tú, que tomas de mi lo mejor,
Tú, escúchame por favor
Silencioso amor, no rompas mi corazón
Tú, escúchame por favor,